Scottish transgender woman Isla Bryson, who was found guilty of raping two women after transitioning, has been jailed for eight years. .“You see yourself as the victim in this situation,” said Scottish Supreme Court Justice Lord Scott in a Tuesday hearing reported by the Guardian. .“You are not.”.Bryson, who attacked two women as a man and changed genders before the trial, was found guilty of the charges on January 24. .READ MORE: Scottish man raped two women, then changed gender before being found guilty.She identified as Adam Graham when she carried out violent sex attacks in 2016 and 2019 after abusing the victims she met online. .Bryson said she experienced gender identity issues since she was four and began transitioning from a man to a woman after being charged with the rapes in 2020. She was put in a women’s prison while awaiting sentencing. .Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on January 26 Bryson will not be serving time in a women's prison. .READ MORE: WATCH: Scottish man who raped two women, changed genders pulled from women's prison.“But given the understandable public and parliamentary concern in this case, I can confirm to Parliament this prisoner will not be incarcerated at Cornton Vale Women’s Prison,” said Sturgeon, who was laster forced to resign over the handling of the issue..“And I hope that provides assurance to the public presiding officer, not least the victims in this particular case.” .Bryson was sentenced to eight years in prison at the Scottish Supreme Court, with a further three years on licence. .Scott said Bryson posed a high risk of reoffending. He added she continues to deny the offences and claims the victims colluded against her. .The justice acknowledged Bryson is considered vulnerable in some ways due to adverse childhood experiences. He said her vulnerability is “no excuse at all for what you did to these two women.” .This case led to Scottish Secretary for Justice Keith Brown ordering an urgent review, and the Scottish Prison Service decided to halt movement of all transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into women’s prisons. .Opponents of the Scottish government’s gender recognition reforms — which the British government blocked from going to royal assent because of safety issues for women and children — said the case vindicated their concerns about lack of safeguards in the bill. .The court heard during the trial Bryson was going through the breakdown of a brief, loveless marriage and went to stay with the first victim at her mother’s house in Clydebank, Scotland, in 2016. .The first victim gave evidence through a pre-recorded video and said she was raped for 30 minutes. She recalled she said no multiple times. .“At the time I was so scared,” said the first victim. .“I just didn’t know what was going on.”.The second victim gave evidence via live videolink and said Bryson continued to have sex with her after she said stop. .“I said to stop but he (Bryson) just kept on going, and that’s when I just closed my eyes and I am doing what he wanted to do,” said the second victim. .The rapist gave evidence during the trial where she spoke about identifying as transgender at four years old but not making the decision to transition until 29. She said the two victims consented to having sex. .Scott said Bryson was “preying on these two women because of their vulnerability and raped them in their own homes where they were entitled to feel safe.”.“You are not at the stage of accepting what you did or acknowledging the serious harm you inflicted on two women,” he said.
